


waves keep on washing over me

by SideOrderOfGay



Series: Supercorptober 2020 [8]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Angst and Fluff, F/F, First Kiss, Implied Sexual Content, Minor Character Death, Misunderstandings, Selkie!Lena, Supercorptober 2020 - Day 8: Beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:42:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26897623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SideOrderOfGay/pseuds/SideOrderOfGay
Summary: Exiled by her clan and hunted by her brother Lex, the oceans have become unsafe for Lena. But she doesn't belong to the land either, not really, until a human hides her coat and binds her to the world above the waves. Well, leave it to Lena to find the only human on earth who stubbornly refuses to take her coat, no matter how many hints she drops.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Series: Supercorptober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948081
Comments: 21
Kudos: 196





	waves keep on washing over me

The human had strong arms, a loud, unrestrained laugh and kind, blue eyes. Lena had been watching her from afar, quickly darting beneath the foam of the waves should those deep blue eyes flicker too close. She lived alone, as far as Lena could tell, in the old cottage balanced precariously on the cliff overlooking the ocean, spiting the force of its harsh waves crashing against it for generations. Other humans dropped by frequently, humans Lena presumed to be her clan as they didn’t look much alike but touched and talked with the familiarity of kin. Most of the time she spent alone, however, standing out on the cliff by her easel, committing the facets of her home to paper. Sometimes, she’d spend hours out there, and occasionally she’d get so lost in thought hours would pass between the masterful strokes of her brush, until a sudden rain shower sent her scrambling to pack up her artwork. Her name is Kara.

_Yes_ , Lena thought, _this one will do_.

She couldn’t put it off any longer. Desperation and hunger had driven her into the darker waters a day ago, where her brother’s lackeys were already out on the prowl for her. The second Lex had come to power in her clan he’d made sure to remove all those who had a claim for clan leadership, no matter how miniscule, and in his paranoia he must have put a price on her coat, as if she’d ever come back. As if there was anything there for her.

_I don’t miss it_ , she told herself as the currents carried the tunes of singing whales to her ears, miles away, barely audible, _I don’t, I don’t, I don’t_!

She waited until the moon has long since dipped below the horizon, until the rest of Kara’s clan had said their goodbyes and the stench of their engines no longer lay in the air like a suffocating blanket. Then, she rose from the sea, her legs still unsure, her coat, silver and dotted in darker spots glinting in the moonlight, and made her way to the cottage. The air already burned in her lungs as she followed the path that lead to Kara’s front door, but she supposed she had ample time left to until the pain would turn debilitating enough to force her back into the water. There was still a light on in one of the rooms, and the sound of soft humming reached Lena’s ears. She was not following a particular melody, but it’s soft and domestic in a way that made Lena smile despite herself. She took one last look at the ocean, the waves crashing against the shores with such fervour that she could feel the drops land on her face whenever they reached particularly high, then she raised her hand to knock against the front door. The humming stopped in an instant, replaced with the sound of footsteps thundering down a creaky stairway before the door was wrenched open.

“Don’t tell me you forgot your keys again, Alex”, she began, only to trail off, wide eyed, when she took in Lena’s form. Her mouth opened and closed, much like an anchovy. The wind picked up with a violent howl, and Lena couldn’t suppress a shiver, the bare skin not covered by the coat loosely draped over her shoulders wet and freezing. At least the sight of Lena shivering in the night seemed to shake Kara out of her paralysis.

“Oh my gosh!” she squeaked. “Come in, you’ll freeze to death!”

The blonde reached out to her, as if to usher her inside, but changed her mind before she could touch her, her arm now awkwardly outstretched waiting for Lena to enter. Lena gave her a grateful smile and made her way inside. It was warmer there, embers glowing in the fireplace, but the air was much dryer than outside, making Lena heave and cough, her body bending under the force of it, tears springing to her eyes. Her head was spinning, she reached forward blindly to find something, anything to hold onto. A steady hand found her, held her upright, another brushing her hair back while she continued to cough. When it finally subsided, Lena looked up through wet strands of inky hair and saw worry clearly etched into the human’s face. For all the stories she’d heard about cruel humans trapping her kind and binding them to the land, this one didn’t seem like the worst choice to be stuck with.

Then again, as her history with Lex had shown, maybe Lena wasn’t the best judge of character.

“Thank you”, she croaked, her voice rough as dry sand.

“You need to get out of your wet clothes”, Kara said, still touching her back in a gesture that would have been comforting if her words hadn’t reminded Lena of what she was here to do. She could still hear the waves steadily breaking against the rocks outside, calling her back to a home she was about to forsake. She took a final breath, closed her eyes, and stepped out of her coat, making a show of draping it over the back of one of the chairs arranged around the dinner table. A choked sound from Kara caught her attention, and when Lena turned to face her she found that the human had turned around, staring pointedly at the wall.

“Right, yes”, she stuttered, “I’ll just...go and get you some of my clothes to wear. They’ll be a bit big on you, but they’re warm and dry and I’ll just...go now.”

She stumbled up the stairs, still refusing to look at Lena, and fled to what she presumed was her room. Now left to her own devices, Lena had a tentative around the room. Kara’s clan had left it quite a mess, tableware and other knick-knacks strewn around, a considerable mountain of what seemed to be leftover food piled up on the counter. It was food completely foreign to Lena, who was used to the fish and seal they hunted and the occasional plundered nest of sea-fowl should the season allow it. Yet the smell of it was so strange and enticing, and as if on queue her stomach gave a mighty growl reminding her how famished she was. Her feet had carried her towards the leftovers before she even knew it. She picked one of them up, a crispy golden-brown exterior smelling deliciously aromatic and still faintly of the sea. She took a careful nibble, and when a litany of tastes exploded across her tongue she indulged herself and took a bigger bite, then a second, and a third…

“Um”, said Kara from behind her in a high-pitched voice. Lena froze with one of the morsels halfway to her mouth, sudden panic flooding her system at the thought of how the human might react when she discovered her stealing her food, only to find Kara similarly paralysed, one hand clapped over her eyes, a deep red flush on her cheeks. “I have your clothes right here, why don’t you go ahead and change in the bathroom, it’s right down the hall.”

Lena took the neatly folded clothes from her hand, stifling a giggle at how the human stood there, eyes shut so tightly it made her nose scrunch up in a frankly adorable way, and made her way to the bathroom, suddenly self-conscious about the wet footprints she left behind. The human garments were downright flimsy compared to her heavy coat, but they were warm and dry and smelled fresh like a gust of spring wind. Lena spent a few seconds pressing them to her nose and inhaling the scent before finally putting them on.

When she returned her eyes immediately flickered over to where she’d left her coat, and she was surprised to find it still hanging there. Then again, this human probably didn’t want to be caught in the act of hiding it, waiting instead for Lena to be asleep. She found Kara sitting on a soft armchair at the fireplace, waving at her and gesturing for her to sit down at the armchair directly across. Lena did, enjoying the feeling of sinking into the plush surface.

“Here”, Kara said, pressing a steaming mug of a light brown, sweet smelling liquid into her hands, “this should warm you right up.”

Lena held the mug with both hands, pressing it close to her chest and drawing her knees up under her chin. It felt like one of the volcanic vents Lena had seen on a visit to the Deep Clans, only it could fit in her hands. At Kara’s encouraging smile, she took a small sip, eyes never leaving the human. She seemed nervous, as if preparing herself for a difficult conversation. The moment came when Lena had drank half of her mug, and Kara hesitantly asked:

“Are you...okay?”

Lena cocked her head to the side, waiting for her to elaborate.

“I mean, do you need me to call anyone? Family, friends or...oh shoot, I never even asked if you are hurt! Are you hurt? Do you want me to call an ambulance for you?”

Lena smiled, shaking her head.

“No, thank you. You’ve already been very kind to me”, she said, softly, her eyes trained on the floor in a perfect impression of the sort of naive, demure girls that got themselves caught and bound by humans in the stories she’d been told since she was a child.

Kara furrowed her brow, creating a deep crinkle on her forehead.

“Are you sure? Because I’ll help you, no matter what.”

_Of course you would. Of course you’d do anything to make me stay, to give you enough time to steal my coat and hide it._ The words burned on Lena’s tongue like bitter bile, but she swallowed them back down. Instead she smiled meekly, playing along.

“I’ve already imposed on you so much, and I understand if it’s too much to ask, but might I stay here for the night?”

“Of course”, Kara said. “I don’t have a guest room, but you can take my bed – I’ll take the couch, don’t worry!”

Lena finished her sweet drink to hide her scowl at how obvious the human’s attempts to separate her from her coat were.

“Thank you”, she said, putting the empty mug on the table in front of her and standing up. She just wanted to get it over with before she had another chance to change her mind.

“Wait!” Kara called after her, making Lena stop in her tracks. “If you need anything, anything at all, you can ask me, okay?” She sounded so sincere, and her impossibly blue eyes were almost pleading.

“Lena”, she answered after a short while. At Kara’s bewildered expression, she added: “If I am to stay here, you should at least know my name.”

A bright smile spread over Kara’s face in response. “It’s nice to meet you, Lena. I’m Kara.”

Lena acknowledged Kara with a nod of her head and a tired smile of her own.

“Goodnight, Kara.”

She lay awake in the soft embrace of Kara’s sheets, making as little sound as possible, listening for any rummaging, the front door opening maybe, but all she could hear was the sound of tableware being put away and eventually Kara’s quiet humming, which lulled her to sleep.

She woke to a searing pain in her chest, her lungs burning with every laboured breath she tried to force into them. She rolled off of the bed in a blind panic, the pain bringing tears to her eyes and blurring her vision. But how could that be? Why did it still hurt if she had a keeper? She stumbled down the stairs, eyes wild, darting to the chair where she’d left her coat – it was gone. _Then why did it hurt so much?_

Kara lay sprawled across the couch, asleep through the commotion, the fire had long since died down, and -

Ah. The chair stood there, next to the fire, in order to get it to dry faster. Lena couldn’t expend much thought to the significance of the action, as she was hit with another coughing fit, and as she pulled the hand from her mouth it came away red and wet. She grabbed her coat and stormed out of the front door, leaving it wide open behind her. Blindly she let her legs carry her towards the sound of the roiling ocean, crawling the last steps before she finally slipped beneath the water’s surface, the cool liquid filling her lungs and soothing the stabbing pain.

She found the spear in the late afternoon, wedged too tightly into a crevice in the stony reefs to have been forgotten there. Around it’s shaft a patchy brown coat lazily floated on the currents. She knew who it belonged to, Adam, a young member of her clan. She’d known him, she’d even been fond of him, which is why he now served as a warning to her. The shallows were no longer safe.

She was back at Kara’s door the same night, carrying the clothes she’d thoughtlessly taken from her house, sopping wet but neatly folded. There was no humming this time, but she could hear Kara all but sprinting to the door the second her first knock rang out. Maybe she needed further encouragement to keep her, maybe she truly hadn’t wanted to force Lena to stay against her will. She hung her coat by the door this time, next to Kara’s worn jacket. _It’s yours if you want it._

“I was worried when you left before I got up last night”, Kara said, after she’d given her another change of clothes.

“I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.”

The words were spoken with a tenderness so profound Lena couldn’t help but believe her.

“Do you want to join me for dinner?”, Kara asked, the hopeful upturn to her voice unmistakable. “I accidentally made way too much pasta and it would be a shame if it went to waste.”

Lena was ravenous, the shallows providing little to no food for her, especially now that she had to lay low because Lex’ hunters were constantly on the lookout for her. She gladly took place at the table where she found a plate already set for her. She was too hungry to care about how she gorged herself on the food offered to her.

“Why did you come here, Lena?”

Lena was suddenly glad she had her mouth full with human food, chewing and swallowing afforded her some time to think about her answer.

“I had a fallout with my family”, she eventually settled on. It was as close to the truth as she dared to venture. Not everyone would willingly harbour a fugitive.

“Did they kick you out?”

“Something like that.”

“Geez, Lena, I’m so sorry. That’s awful! If you want to, I can call some of my friends to see if they could help you find your feet again. I’m pretty sure Alex and Kelly are about to move in together, I bet they’ll let you sleep in the spare apartment until you find your feet.” Kara beamed at her, so excited to have found a way to help her, but the thought of being further away from the ocean made her lungs ache in protest. The demure _I wouldn’t want to impose_ was already on Lena’s tongue, but she decided against it.

“No”, she stated firmly. “I appreciate all you’ve done, and if you want me to leave you in peace I understand, and I will honour your wishes, but this isn’t the right step for me.”

Kara sunk into herself with a sigh. “If you’re sure. And if you change your mind, you can always -”

“I am sure.” There was a certain finality to her words, and the rest of the dinner passed in a tense silence.

“Do you still want to spend the night here?” Kara asked in a small voice after she’d finished her plate.

“If you’ll still have me.” Lena wasn’t sure of it, not after her outburst. She didn’t regret it, far from it, it needed to be said. But a part of her feared that if Lena deviated too much from the script set by the cautionary tales she grew up with, Kara would no longer want to keep her. Under normal circumstances she’d have said _good riddance_ and left it at that, not wasting a single tear on a person who didn’t want her for her authentic self, if with Kara she weren’t also ridding herself of the one chance at safety she had.

“Always”, Kara replied without a second of hesitation, reaching out to take Lena’s icy hands in her own warm palms and giving them a gentle squeeze.

She woke to the same burning pain and her coat draped over the chair by the fireplace. This time, there was a little plastic box balanced on top of it, containing bread and eggs and crispy strips of bacon that already made Lena’s mouth water, and on top of it a crude approximation of a smiling face next to the words _breakfast is important_. Lena was overcome with a sudden wave of affection for Kara that almost made her knees buckle, and pushed the excruciating sensation out of her mind for just a second.

She kept coming back, because where else would she go? And every time, _infuriatingly so_ , Lena would find her coat in the exact same spot by the fireplace. She became more brazen with each night she spent in the house, going from hanging her coat next to Kara’s to stowing it away in her wardrobe to throwing it on the floor directly in front of her room, because no matter how much it pained her to see the coat, her very own fur, lying discarded in the dust, she was running out of ideas in order to make Kara notice it. In time, it started feeling less like courtesy on Kara’s part and more like rejection. And that would be fine, Lena would be _fine_ , if Kara didn’t also do things like let her gaze flicker to her lips in conversation too many times for it to be a coincidence, if she didn’t blush a bright scarlet whenever the coat slipped off Lena’s body, and if she didn’t do such _intimate_ things as to show Lena her art room with all her completed works. Nearly all of them were studies of the ocean, each with such attention to detail and lighting Lena almost believed she was seeing it through the eyes of someone who loved it as ardently as herself. She also caught a glimpse of some black and white drawings, detailed studies of a harsh jawline and a familiar pattern of freckles trailing down a throat. That was all she could recognize before Kara had all but thrown herself over her works in order to block them from view, rambling about them not being ready yet. Lena would have an easier time accepting Kara’s rejection if she didn’t do things like invite her to join sister’s night.

“Not that you’re my sister, it’s just that you’re here every night, and I really like having you here, and I don’t know if you have anywhere else to go, so feel free to stop by! Alex won’t mind, in fact, she really wants to meet you after all I’ve told her about you.”

“I appreciate the invitation, I truly do, but I’d rather not”, Lena said and tried not to take the hurt look in Kara’s eyes to close to heart. She didn’t tell Kara the reason for her reluctance, as she feared it might upset her further: She didn’t know her, and she didn’t trust a stranger around her coat. _Oh, is that so?_ A cold voice in the back of her head sneered. _I thought you wanted to be bound to the land._

She knew the answer, of course, she knew it clear as day: She wasn’t Kara. And Lena wanted no-one but Kara.

She ended up crashing sister’s night anyway, but not of her own volition. It was in fact the tip of the spear that had broken off in her flesh somewhere around her hip. She was bleeding heavily and couldn’t get her hands to stop shaking to take it out, even after the actual danger had long since passed as she made it onto land to escape the hunting party of four that had found her. By the time she reached the cottage her coat was drenched in blood, and it was dripping down her bare leg. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was Kara’s overjoyed expression upon seeing Lena at the door morph into one of abject horror, then she could feel her legs giving out from beneath her.

What happened next was a blur to her, she thought she saw Kara carry her coat upstairs as her sister, Alex, all efficiency and professionalism, moved her to the couch. She remembers a searing pain as they removed the jagged tip of the spear from inside her, the horrible burn of the disinfectant and through it all Kara, holding her steady, stroking her hair and murmuring soothing words as she drifted in and out of consciousness, and long after Alex had left.

When Lena came to again, the deep cut in her side had been sown shut, and Kara was still holding her, humming gently, her lips so close to her she could feel her breath ghosting over the shell of her ear. She wanted, _needed_ them closer.

“You can kiss me, y’know?”, she slurred, her voice thick.

The humming abruptly stopped, as did the hand playing with her hair.

“Don’t tell me you don’t want to. You have at least five separate studies of my lips hidden in your room.”

“I don’t want to take advantage of you. You’re in a vulnerable position and-”

“I _want_ you to kiss me. Don’t make me beg, darling”, she muttered, turning to face the blonde and gritting her teeth against the sting of her wound.

Lena extended a hand and caressed Kara’s jaw as the blonde blinked rapidly, as if to wake herself up from a dream. She followed the line of her jaw to the back of her head, where her fingers splayed in blonde tresses and pulled her down, down to her lips.

Kara kissed her impossibly, almost frustratingly gently, her strong hands holding her as softly as a baby bird, as if she would break if she applied the slightest amount of force. Eventually, when she had to break away for air, her lips trailed over her jaw, to her cheeks, to the shell of her ear and down her neck as she seemed to be possessed by the need to kiss every inch of Lena’s skin that was in reach. It was only when Lena felt the wetness drip against her collarbone when she realized that Kara was crying.

“I wish you didn’t have to go”, she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion.

Lena cupped her cheeks with both her hands, inclining her head upwards, forcing teary blue eyes to meet her green ones.

“It’s up to you, my darling.”

“But it _isn’t_!” Kara cried out, immediately quieting down after her outburst, placing an apologetic kiss on the freckle on her throat. Lena wanted to grab her shoulders then, to shake some sense into her, but she was so, so tired, and the world was rapidly fading to black.

She found a cave system near the cottage which only flooded during the high tide, leaving her with just enough stale water over the day as to not suffocate. It should buy her at least a few more days of time.

Eventually, they would find her. It was only a matter of when.

“Your coat is so soft”, Kara breathed, her voice awed as her fingers traced through the soft fur. She swallowed.

“May I take it off?”

“Gods, yes, finally!” Lena hissed, prompting a chuckle from Kara.

“Be patient”, she laughed. “I want to take my time with this.”

She was tortuously thorough in her exploration, pushing the coat of her shoulders inch by agonizing inch and trailing hot kisses on Lena’s icy skin whenever more was revealed, until it finally slid to the ground and Kara bent down to pick it up. Lena closed her eyes. If she opened them again and the coat was out of her direct line of sight she’d consider it hidden, she just wanted Kara to keep her, _why wouldn’t she just keep her?_

“Lena, look!” Kara exclaimed, and out of instinct Lena opened her eyes again.

“Our coats are spooning!” Kara gushed, pointing to Lena’s coat which she had draped over the old grey sweater jacket she wore around the house on her desk chair, grinning proudly. Lena just glared at her, and grabbed her _stupid_ muscular shoulders to crash her _stupid_ pretty lips into hers, pulling her onto the _stupid_ bed.

As Lena drearily watched the crabs scuttle over the algae-covered rocks in her cave she cursed her _stupid_ heart for loving a person who didn’t want to keep her.

The next night, Kara barely made it through _hello_ before Lena had slipped off her coat and pushed it against her chest.

“Take it!” she growled.

“Lena, I don’t-”

“Are you just going to string me along forever?” she accused, hating the way tears were already welling up in her eyes.

“You’ll kiss me, you’ll fuck me, you’ll tell me you love me but you won’t _keep_ me! So just take my coat and hide it and bind me to you!”

“Oh, Lena”, Kara breathed, a barrage of emotions flickering across her face within seconds: confusion, hurt, concern, and something Lena didn’t dare name love, no matter what Kara promised her. “Lena, I’d never force you to stay.”

“But I _want_ you to!”

“No!”

It was the first time Kara had shouted at her. She’d become exasperated, sure, but she’d never tried to shout her down. Instinctively, Lena flinched backwards. Kara’s eyes widened in shock.

“I’m sorry”, she said, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. But I don’t know how to make you see that I can’t take your coat, I can’t take your choice away. If you want to leave, if it is now, or tomorrow, or fifteen years from now, it’s your decision. And if you want to stay, it’s your decision as well. I will never take it away from you. You have to be the one to make that choice.”

“But I want to stay! I want to live here with you, looking out over the ocean, I want to spend lazy mornings with you and doze in the sun on the three days of the year it actually shines, and I want you to introduce me to your people and I want to utterly embarrass them and you and probably myself to by being as sickeningly in love as I am with you, I want to stay with you until we’re old and grey and this whole cliff finally crumbles into the ocean!”

The words had come spilling out of her like a flash flood, and she had to take a deep breath at the end of her speech. She was properly crying now, but she also felt better than before, lighter, as if a weight had been lifted of her chest, an actual, physical weight. She took another breath and then there was clarity, so sudden and intense she had to sit down: It didn’t hurt. The constant ache that had accompanied her every breath on land had faded into nothingness.

“Kara”, she breathed, and as the blonde bent down to take her hand her skin didn’t feel almost scalding in contrast to Lena’s icy cold skin anymore, just pleasant warmth on warmth.

“Kara...I’m staying. I’ve made my choice, and I’m staying with you.”

Lena’s coat now hangs next to the door again, ready to be taken should Lena ever so desire. It’s been years now, decades even, and she’d never even entertained the thought for a second, bit every now and then her eyes flicker over to it, and every time it reminds her:

She made the right choice.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Miracle of Sound's Subnautica song because I'm a big nerd and I'm not even ashamed.


End file.
